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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29494608">Someone gets hurt.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MclarenMuppet/pseuds/MclarenMuppet'>MclarenMuppet</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Formula 1 RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:40:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,759</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29494608</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MclarenMuppet/pseuds/MclarenMuppet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s fine for you, it’s fine to flirt, it’s fine ‘till someone gets hurt.<br/>(Song from Mean girls on Broadway)</p><p>After disaster strikes for Evelyn, she decides to spend some much needed time bonding with her older brother,  and getting to know his life and passion. That includes a certain papaya boy.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lando Norris/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Someone gets hurt.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>From the moment I had entered the parking lot, I already felt stares. I tried to ignore it, thinking it was just my imagination and insecurities again, but my stomach was turning around in my belly by the time I found my brother. I couldn’t shake the feeling something was actually off this time.</p><p>“Good morning, what a-“ I started as I see George coming my way, but I immediately get interrupted as he shoves his phone into my hands with a grin on his face.<br/>
“You could’ve just told me, you know? I mean you don’t have to, but everyone’s talking about it. I guess I should have seen this coming though.” I hear him talking, but I just stare at the phone, mouth wide open. How in the world did someone capture this? And why are cameras on phones so damned good these days? This is undoubtedly me, there is no way I can still convince people it isn’t. And that? That is definitely him, and those are definitely our faces together.<br/>
I run my hand through my hair and keep staring for a few seconds before finally looking up at my big brother, who appears to be waiting for an answer to a question I had completely missed. </p><p>“Wait, sorry what?” I asked.<br/>
“Are we still having lunch together at Williams?” He asks, acting like absolutely everything is completely fine while all the gears in my head are seemingly exploding. “Hey, are you okay? What’s wrong, the picture?” George suddenly seems to realize what he thought was funny, was having a very different impact on me. “There’s no need to be ashamed, it’s just-“<br/>
I immediately interrupt him this time. “No, George you don’t really-- like I don’t know if you get it, but everyone has all these opinions about me spending time with you. Saying I’m always wanting attention from the media and the other drivers. Saying I’m just looking for a rich dude to fu-“ I stop myself from saying this out here, but continue in a lower voice. “You know what they’re all calling me anyways. I don’t understand people invading our privacy like this.”<br/>
George reaches out for a hug, which I need more than I realized. “I know this isn’t fun, trust me, I know. It’s a part of the whole circus and people are going to pretend to know you,” He steps back but keeps his hands on my shoulder. “I love that you’re here. I love you took this bad moment in your life and decided this is the opportunity to get closer with your family and... You know what? Everyone who actually knows you loves having you around. You’re the ray of sunshine walking around, making sure everyone is drinking enough water.”<br/>
I laugh and wipe away a few stray tears. “I knew what I was getting myself into, exposing myself to all this,” I say while gesturing around. “Sometimes it’s hard to remember the positives outweigh the negatives.”<br/>
“You don’t have to tell me anything, okay? But you might want to go to talk to him before the media finds you or him. I just really hope this doesn’t ruin everything for you.” I nod and he starts walking away.<br/>
“Hey George?” I call out. He turns around. “You’re the best big brother.” I smile, before hurrying off to find the one other person involved.</p><p>I rush through the people, hurrying towards the McLaren hospitality, but I don't have to go far before seeing some familiar curls and papaya colors through the crowd. I catch up with him fast.<br/>
“Lando!” He immediately turns around and seems relieved that I’ve found him. “I came to find you as soon as I saw, I mean-“<br/>
“Yeah, yeah, but not here.” He nods his head to the side and I immediately see what he means. Sneaky cameras from a distance from hopeful sports channels or social media accounts. For people so interested in sports, they definitely care a lot about gossip.<br/>
I follow him into his little driver's room, which didn’t seem like the best idea to try to avoid gossip from spreading, but it is the only place where we had privacy.<br/>
“My phone’s been blowing up, I can’t believe someone took that picture and just decided to share it with the world,” He says, shaking his head with a little smile I didn’t really understand. “You know,” he starts, and he actually turns to look at me. It becomes painfully obvious to me we are alone - there aren’t that many moments where I can catch him alone - and it feels incredibly right to have his full attention. I know my heart is secretly hoping for something here, but I have to face reality now. It had just been a couple of kisses, I mean a couple of really hot kisses, but still. We had always been just friends and this was the first time anything like this happened. There hadn’t even ever been fun flirting or anything like that. “Isn’t it like everyone is shaming us for being two, young adults who are both single, for just having fun? It’s one kiss and people are acting like we’re getting married,” He dramatically throws his arms up to the air. “This was just a mistake,” I am pretty sure I literally feel my heart sink as he sighs and sits down. “I am just so done with people being obsessed with my dating life and keeping track of whose pictures I am commenting on and I just-” He suddenly looks up, I quickly wipe at my eyes, hoping he didn’t  see anything. “Hey, I’m sorry, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” He reaches out for me, but I take a step back and put my hand on the door handle, this room suddenly seems to be running out of oxygen.<br/>
“I’m fine, it’s fine. Whatever you decide to communicate, I’ll confirm it, whatever.” I stumble over my words as I open the door and the fresh air never felt this good.<br/>
“Evie, no I -”<br/>
“It’s fine!” I snap back at him, catching the attention of some people outside. “Drive safe.” I slam the door behind me and put on my sunglasses, smiling at the innocent bystanders as I walk as fast as I possibly can.</p><p>The moment I rush into the Williams hospitality, I go for the toilets. I lock the door and sit down on the closed toilet seat. I try not to cry anymore. I take deep breaths and look up, but the tears come anyway. What did I expect to happen? I can’t even be mad at him, everything he had said was true, anyways. Two young, single people sharing a spontaneous kiss or two, or three - or, well, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t the pain of knowing he hadn’t felt anything, it wasn’t that I was expecting him to get down on one knee and for us to live happily ever after. He had said it was a mistake. I am the mistake. He pretty much wished it had never happened. That it wasn’t worth the rumours and the explaining of the picture he now had to do.</p><p>From the moment I had decided to spend more time with my brother while doing what he loves most, I had fallen right into the madness that was the group of his friends. Me and Lando had an amazing connection, well, now that I think of it, had I imagined it all? He is the funniest, most loyal and caring guy I’ve ever met. The curls, the laugh, the kisses. Oh man, the kisses. I realize exactly what is going on; the kiss might have been a spontaneous thing. A piece of me had been hoping the talk involved him admitting he felt the tiniest bit more than friendship towards me. How dumb am I?! I am the little sister, not to mention the little sister who had been following her big brother around because she was fired from her dream job. Did I really think Lando Norris would be interested in that?<br/>
I stand up and flush the toilet, just in case someone is waiting and confidently open the door. There’s still no one here. I take my time washing my hands and quickly fix my make-up and hair. It’s fine, really. We make mistakes and learn from them. The only hard part was facing the questions today and tomorrow everyone’s moved on to something else. I can’t blame Lando for anything. I am the one who is confused and who had hoped for something much more than it eventually was.</p><p>I find George again, who seems surprised to see me again so soon. He doesn’t say anything, just looks at me as I sit down across from him. He doesn’t need to say anything, I can see it on his face.<br/>
“It’s fine.” I say, smiling. I know he doesn’t believe that all, but he also knows pushing me right now isn’t going to lead anywhere. He knows all too well that in a few days I will probably come to him and rant about whatever had actually been bothering me. For now, I just want to focus on the qualifications, the race, and the reason I am here in the first place: strengthening our bond, getting to know my brother, getting to know his biggest passion.</p><p>Days went by faster than I expected them to. I never did end up bursting into George’s hotel room and I never did end up ranting to him about how stupid men were. I was feeling good. I spent a lot of time with George and even more time finally getting to know the group of people who made sure he was driving safe. I had a blast. Maybe, just maybe, a part of me knew I was doing this to avoid whatever could be coming next when I would run into papaya boy, so I was just always busy. That didn’t mean I wasn’t having the most fun ever since I had lost everything. </p><p>My Instagram - which was the only social media I had - had blown up a bit on the day of the leaked picture, but I had ignored everyone and kept quiet on purpose by not posting anything, especially to not lure out the trolls. Some people had been calling out to me whenever they saw me around, but waving and walking fast had been my solution pretty much every time.  I had seen one video of Lando being asked about it after the qualification, he had stuck to his ‘two singles having fun’ explanation.</p><p>It was a Thursday when I drove with George to the track, we were having a good time singing along to Britney Spears when we arrived.<br/>
“Not a talent in this family, I am afraid.” he says whilst getting out.<br/>
“Excuse you, sir, talk for yourself.” I laugh, grabbing my bag and following him. George parts ways with me as we enter through the turnstiles, which gives me a good opportunity to check up on some people I haven’t seen since last Sunday. I usually just walk around and see who has some time to chat. Sometimes I end up just watching whatever is going around me. It is kind of nice being a fly on the wall in an insane world like this sometimes.<br/>
I am just enjoying the sun, watching the people bustling by as I hear a very clear voice call out.<br/>
“Evelyn! Evie!” Oh hell no. I pretend my phone is ringing and take a pretend call, before going for my escape route. “I am so happy I found you, it’s like you’ve been avoiding me and we need to-”<br/>
I turn to look at Lando and gesture at my phone while mouthing ‘sorry’. He is way too quick to take out his phone and while I attempt to get away, my phone rings. I close my eyes for a second, cringing at this horribly awkward moment, before facing him and smiling. There’s an awkward silence before he suddenly moves his hidden hand out from his back and reveals a small, lovely bouquet of orange and pink flowers. He has a very nervous smile on his face.<br/>
“I am so sorry for everything I said. Nothing I said was what I meant to say and I am sorry it took me this long to come and apologize, but I talked to Carlos about it and then with George and then with Carlos again and then we debated over if your favourite color was pink or red and eh... Interrupt me please?” He starts talking faster and faster. He is clearly incredibly uncomfortable and the flowers are definitely earning some stares from the people around us. I take a moment to look at him, and the flowers, and then him again. A very hopeful, kind look in his eyes and still that very nervous smile. A small laugh escapes his lips. “Please, say something, anything? You’re scaring me.”<br/>
At this, I finally smile and grab the flowers. Looking at the most vibrant and perfect colors I have ever seen a flower have. “They are beautiful, Lando, thank you,” I bite my lip before asking the question that had been burning in my head for the last few days. “Was it really... just a mistake, though?”<br/>
He immediately shakes his head and reaches out to put his hands on my arms. “No! No, I still can’t believe I said that. I am so dumb.”<br/>
I nod. “So, what is this,” I say as I point between us, “To you? What am I to you?”<br/>
He sighs, “Honestly, it’s no secret I don’t do well with these eh, kind of things. I never should have just kissed you randomly and then complain about it, because I, you know. I…”<br/>
I raise my eyebrows. “Lando?” I ask as he seems to completely leave the conversation mentally.<br/>
“I care. About you, I mean. You’re sweet... and funny and badass and I just... I want to make sure I treat you right.”<br/>
I don’t think I’ve ever smiled as wide as I was doing right now. I immediately reach out to hug him tightly. “You know, I had already accepted your apology when I saw the flowers.” I whisper.<br/>
He laughs, “You just enjoyed seeing me make a fool out of myself then?”<br/>
We let go of each other. “Pretty much, it’s cute, you’re cute.” I say as he shakes his head.<br/>
“Just, give me a chance and let’s start over, okay?” Starting over seemed like exactly the right thing to do.<br/>
“Yeah, of course. I enjoy being around you too much to let this go over something we are both responsible for. I should say sorry, too, you know, I could have just cooled off and come back to talk it out but I was just so, ehm, scared really. Scared that I was just a fun moment that turned into a mistake and that you wouldn’t really care.”<br/>
“I am glad we finally talked.”<br/>
“Me too.”<br/>
There was a comfortable silence before he was called over by someone.<br/>
“One last question,” I announce, and he seems to tense up a bit. “You really talked to Carlos and George about this?”<br/>
I try not to laugh, I really do. He puts his hands in front of his face and groans. “I will never hear the end of this, will I?” I shake my head, sticking out my tongue to him as I hear someone call for him again. “Actually, I want to take you out. Tonight.”<br/>
It feels like a movie I usually roll my eyes at, but this time it feels like the best thing on the planet. “Lando, it’s fine, I understand you are busy.”<br/>
He shakes his head. “No, I mean it, I want to have time for just you. For just us. I will find you at seven-ish, okay?” He gets called again, and he yells he’s coming before turning back to me.<br/>
“Okay.” I answer. He smiles and quickly starts walking to whoever was calling out to him. “What do I wear?” I yell after him, happiness obviously radiating from all my pores.<br/>
“Nothing fancy!” He yells back, and I catch a glimpse of Carlos slapping him on the back before he turns around a corner. I smell my roses one more time before heading off to find George with the biggest smile I’ve had in years.</p>
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